Quote Originally Posted by Rex Brynen View Post
A useful reminder from the BBC of the sorts of collateral damage that were considered "acceptable" in WWII, as well as the impact they had on local public opinion:

Revisionists challenge D-Day story
BBC news, 15:23 GMT, Friday, 5 June 2009
"Revisionists" indeed. By coincidence, last Thursday evening I was speaking with a Frenchman (in his 40s) over beer at Happy Hour. By even greater coincidence, he is from Normandy. By greatest coincidence, perhaps owing to the date, this topic arose. He spoke of how the family still grieved for lost relatives (e.g. his uncles and some second cousins) killed by Allied action, but this was (viewed by his family) as the cost of war.

By bizarre lack of coincidence, discussion of looting and rape didn't crop up:

"According to American historian J Robert Lilly, there were around 3,500 rapes by American servicemen in France between June 1944 and the end of the war."

Does anyone know of any evidence to support this assertion? Or that concerning looting? From a reliable, credible source (instead of the BBC)?